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John Carmack, the legendary hacker-genius behind the Gear VR, gave an in depth talk at GDC 2015 about the future of Mobile VR. It’s fascinating to watch.
John Carmack holding Gear VR (image credit: Fortune.com)
Legendary John Carmack Talks
John Carmack doesn’t give too many presentations. But when he does, people listen.
John Carmack is Gear VR
John Carmack has been leading the team to get VR working well on mobile. And this is probably an understatement of his importance in the technology.
He gave a great presentation in 2014 at Oculus Connect. This was at a time when the Gear VR was just announced and all the details of the secret project were coming out. It was an amazing eye opener of where VR was heading.
PC VR Headset Problems
And it was a breath of fresh air for myself. I’ve been a big fan of the Oculus Rift PC VR Headset. But I became somewhat disillusioned with the technology after my experience with the DK2.
I am no John Carmack, but I’m at least above average in technical computer skill.
I put together an expensive gaming PC to run the DK2. But in the end, I could still never get it to work without unpleasant stuttering and other glitches. And most apps required tinkering with a variety of computer settings just to get them to run.
I saw that there would be huge problems for the masses to get Rifts up and running smoothly at home.
Dawn of Mobile VR
When John Carmack talks, we should listen. It is information straight from the inside of what’s going on.
In his new presentation at GDC 2015, he tell us a lot of information. You can tell that he is probably saying more than Oculus would like him to.
2015 Gear VR Huge Consumer Push
To me, his most exciting announcement comes around 33:00 in the video. Here he clearly says that there will be a huge consumer push for Gear VR 2 on the Note 5 for end of 2015. He talks about how Samsung will release its full fury of marketing and distribution.
In the video, he talks about how he originally expected the consumer push to be around the Gear VR 1. And that Samsung would have liked that. But it was Oculus which delayed everything so that it wouldn’t ‘poison the well’ of VR.
Gear VR Way More Successful than Expected
Around 20:00, he talks about how the Gear VR has been much more successful than almost anybody expected. And that this is a primary reason for the big ramp up for Gear VR 2.
I could summarize some more of the key points. But I suggest watching the video yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNAmAxT7-qs&feature=youtu.be